The best new singles this week
The choice cuts from this week’s singles meat
SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Out on the wild frontier of bassy experimental club gear, it’s all about individual flair. There is of course a scene of sorts, with certain DJs, labels and club nights supporting similar artists, but everything criss-crosses and intersects in a tangled network of micro-clusters of artists rather than the geographically-bound movements of old. Rather than building tunes to fit into a broader narrative or a specific kind of dance, what counts in this scene-not-scene is a particular ear-snagging flair or the shock of some wild new approach to bass and drums. It’s not pure studio brawn in the sense of jump-up loudness wars or how gnarly your chainsaw dubstep face-melter might be, but rather a challenge to tickle people’s sense of sonic adventure, their natural curiosity.
Laksa has already proven himself to be way out front in that regard. His early drops on Mistry and Timedance instantly positioned him in the vanguard of bassweight broken techno contortionists, and he’s continued to deliver knockout moments ever since. Meanwhile, his partnership with re:ni hosting the RE:LAX shows on NTS have become an equally strong part of his creative identity, and now the pair have doubled down on their partnership by launching an attendant label with this three-tracker of subversive club perfection.
It’s not that the sounds on this first RE:LAX release are shockingly different like an early Livity or Hessle record was, but rather than Laksa has the ability to edge fresh intrigue and excitement out of his productions while developing the overall arc of this corner of dance music. If you listen to ‘Bodies’ and ‘Mind’, they’re both measured and focused in their trajectory, tapping a little more into the techno element of the scene without losing the spark and surprise. On ‘Mind’ in particular’ the drums are still hardwired to incite fierce movement, constantly shifting, writhing and warping, but there’s a pervasive call to immersion which can be felt in the looming atmospherics. It’s a nod back to the moodier end of jungle, garage and dubstep, but given the benefit of modern processes and the appetite for exotic sound sources.
‘Soulz’ is a consummate A side though, showcasing Laksa’s incredible gift for drum layering and designing as he juggles congas, live kit breaks and industrial-sounding pump, punch and pull through a shadowy labyrinth of metal pad impressions and disembodied voices. It’s not exactly ebullient party music, but rather a powerful weapon for inciting dramatic revelations on the dancefloor. The sound design is a marvel, but crucially Laksa also knows how to hold back from the pitfall of getting too sound-design-y, if that makes any sense. It’s still ritualistic music crafted from earthen means, rather than a hyper-modern exercise in studio showmanship. And that’s precisely why it’s so good.
OW
OCB – The Sequel EP (Metroplex)
Casa Voyager frontman Driss ‘OCB’ Bennis has notched up some impressive accomplishments in the last few years — landing on labels including Needs (Not For Profit), Warning, Craigie Knowes and more — but his debut appearance on Juan Atkins’ seminal Metroplex imprint must be cause for some serious celebration in the Bennis household. Much of his work has seen the light of day via his own, excellent label and his sound tends to dwell in gloriously deviant electro realms.
‘The Sequel EP’ doesn’t veer too far from the sonic stomping ground he’s made his own, and, fittingly, he looks to Motor City machine funk for inspiration across five mesmerising cuts. The title track launches the EP with a spectacular bang, with broken rhythms powering mischievous synth lines as they intertwine over portamento bass before evocative chord progressions add boundless emotion to the groove. The atmospherics continue into the sublime swells of ‘Global Warning’, where dreamy melodies meander over a Beatles intro before crisp rhythms add energy to the ambient mist. In striking contrast, the sliced robotic vocals of B-side opener ‘Syntax Error’ switch up the mood, with sub hits and crisp snares powering the rhythm over a sparse sonic landscape.
Upping the energy even further, we dive deeper into Detroit atmospherics via the pounding dancefloor thrust of ‘Translate’, with alien synth lines and metallic chords darting over thumping drums. Finally, we’re treated to a dose of electro-funk with the feel-good sensations of ‘But In Time’, with glassy chords gliding over breezy rhythms as thick analogue bass provides the irrepressible hook. These are five varied but eminently playable jams from OCB, demonstrating impressive studio scope and unquestionable creative flex. His Metroplex debut is one to remember, a fitting addition to this most iconic of labels and a milestone moment for the man behind the music.
PC
Millsian techno isn’t for everyone, and for those who bristle at the thought of settling into a nice relaxing listen to Waveform Transmission Vol. 1, his Millsart alias offers an alternative perspective. Mills has always been about techno as a vehicle for progress and expression – the true spirit of the music since the beginning. That said, today’s global techno culture is far bigger than pioneers such as himself, and after so many decades his approach is recognisable whichever direction he takes.
The initial round of Millsart releases at the turn of the millennium still felt alien like Jeff Mills music often does, except visceral percussive intensity was swapped out for a gentler, more melodic kind of techno. It’s the subtle melodic discord in the sparkling synth lines which create that particular otherness that becomes his calling card. Since reviving the Millsart project in 2020, he’s dropped a truckload of new music under the Every Dog Has Its Day series banner in a move that tracks with the Bandcamp era of abundance. Some fans no doubt have time to keep up with all of it and the countless other projects and releases he flies out each month, but it’s also helpful to have a 12” like this which cherry picks a few key tracks and gives them a fresh perspective.
Rather than techno, ‘Inner Eye’ comes on more like a cosmic house cut with teeth – dreamy like an early 90s Vibraphone record but with someone getting distinctly freaky with the tuning of the synths. The steady patter of the beat and the fulsome low end will hold a floor in place, but those clangorous, microtonal melodies could create some powerful disorientation in the right setting. ‘Nocturnal Moves’ meanwhile creates its own weird tension by leaning in on the loaded sound of a foregrounded piano to create a deep-rooted sense of house, sounding perpetually on the brink of take off without ever actually taking off.
‘That Voodoo You Do’ is the knottiest of the bunch, quickly locking into a tangled haze of contrasting melodic patterns which settle in your ears about two minutes in through sheer insistence. It’s a sage demonstration of techno as a direct descendent of jazz in the truest, most instinctive sense – challenging and otherworldly on first listen, but speaking a nuanced and articulate emotional language which reveals more as you travel deeper into the music.
OW
Tuff Culture – Day Dream / Perpetual Motion (GS Dubs UK)
Unlike back in the day, the state of the modern dance music landscape requires you to seek out certain legacy styles, speed garage / 4×4 being among them. But that can only mean such genres are more worth seeking it out, not less. A lack of ubiquity can often lend to artists putting more effort into their crafts, not least to do justice to the scenes they’re resuscitating.
This new one from Tuff Culture (Nicholas Phillips) sums that sentiment up nicely. ‘Day Dream’ and ‘Perpetual Motion’ are his two latest cuts for GS Dubs and are perfect offerings for the producer’s first ever vinyl release. This is speed garage of the convincingly retro kind; the A sounds like it’s caught between 1996 and 2023, with its sparse and scratchy production recalling the former year and its rhythmic dexterity connoting the latter. But to really hammer home its genius, we must also call attention to the track’s breakdown, which throws a completely unheard curveball for 4×4: some form of sampled jazz-dub breakdown, replete with fills and a squelching acidity, undercuts its mega-timestretched vocal shouts (in turn a speed garage hallmark, pioneered by the likes of Double 99 or Sol Brothers, and carried over from jungle). It’s a shockingly creative move to include such an experiment in an ostensible floor-filler – we love this kind of thing.
The B continues, as if Tuff Culture only wishes to reveal the real full extent of his creativity after establishing his less-fluffy, no-fuss floor-filling prowess. Smart move! This one’s our favourite. ‘Perpetual Motion’ is weightier and less orthodox for speed, with filterpassed woodblocks and wompy kick-basses seeming to almost hyperventilate against the overall mix. The artist makes an equally clever move in eschewing order-of-the-day sample-pack vocal shouts for a patient Erykah Badu sample, which not only cuts and scrapes with the rhythm, but revels in more drawn-out moments too. We’re sure you, too, will be left “turnin’, turnin’, turnin’…”
JIJ
Konrad Wehrmeister doesn’t bombard us with releases, but when he does drop something it’s always worth paying attention to. He’s not an artist especially beholden to one approach, but since 2018’s 5050 mini-album he’s been comfortably settled on Ilian Tape, the Zenker Bro’s ever-expanding stable of crunchy, leftfield techno. The sound on ALGTR is taut and drum machine focused, but there’s plenty of character punched down into the dough of each track. ‘Midnight Run’ sits somewhere between fast-paced techno and electro, but for all its rapid-fire 808 flex there’s a lightness of touch which will appeal to anyone who doesn’t conflate speed with brutality in club music.
As with ‘Midnight Run’, ‘Paste’ goes in on the needlepoint drum sequencing, but here there’s more space afforded to the atmospherics around the beats. As a foil to the intensely focused percussion, these weird, noisy chord blooms seem almost totally untethered, bloated with overtones and added sonic detritus, but also shot through with a starry-eyed wonder. It’s the sort of simple touch to make a techno track into something memorable.
‘Lastmin_res’ takes the crunchy box jam qualities elsewhere on the EP and applies them to a more balletic cut, spiralling out into space somewhere between the portent energy of a warm-up and the head-scooping trip of a backroom joint. What binds everything together is Wehrmeister’s signal chain, where claggy distortion glues everything together into a satisfying whole.
OW
Apache Scratchy / General Degree – Ruff Cut (Capricorn International)
Going all the way back to 1991… Capricorn International, a Jamaican reggae and dancehall label run by Oliver Shaw, finally sets its sights on a mega-limited reissue of some of their earliest works.
Capricorn opened their doors for business all the way back in 1987, and while for all intents Shaw and his brainchild are enshrouded in mystery, his efforts were certainly worth it. Many of dancehall’s biggest and brightest joined his ranks, including Gregory Isaacs, Vicious Irie, and of course Apache Scratchy. The aforementioned purveyor of sought-after 7”s worked with the vocalist and producer many times, and even laid his second album A Mi Apache Scratchy to full LP. But the real joy is in their 45s specialism, which lends incredibly well to the track ‘Rough Cut’ here.
Scratchy toasts the track’s minimal riddim energetically, speaking of the dog-eat-dog world of stardom, and his place on the order of precedence for dancehall’s crown. He makes one thing abundantly clear: everyone’s friendly to him for just one reason, and that’s that he’s the new king. The beat matches this morally grey sentiment with a jagged vibe, sounding as if it were pitched up on the master channel from a slower steppers’ beat made much earlier. The version is equally merciless, mixing it in with tropical whistle and echoic piano trills. If you can balance chilling out with taking no prisoners, then power to you – is the implied message.
JIJ
Bas Dobbelaer – Layers Of Territory (Trule)
Al Wootton’s Trule label continues to be a potent force in the field of soundsystem techno. We’ll call it that for now, given that Wootton’s sound as an artist and a curator is intrinsically informed by dubwise, soundsystem approaches. Amsterdam-based Bas Dobbelaer clearly knows what’s up, and this release marks a step forward for the emergent dub techno producer fresh from a run of collaborative EPs with Vand on Something Happening, Somewhere.
There’s a certain familiarity to the sound Dobbelaer pursues, with snaking, frequency-modulating synths up front pinging their way through icy negative space. It’s adjacent to the deep-diving techno immersion of Varuna, Valentino Mora, Konduku et al, informed by restraint and happily maintaining one meditative mode in a track. From the sonar bleeps of ‘HSS-01’ to the eyes-closed, inward travel of ‘Plural’, everything is brutally managed and elegantly dubbed, geared towards those taking the dance deep down into the wormhole.
‘Layers Of Territory’ closes the EP out with the most explicit statement on where Dobbelaer’s sound resides, letting a pristine dub techno chord billow between the snappy woodblock percussion. It’s absolutely drawing from a tradition started by Jamaican dub pioneers, abstracted in Berlin and since metabolised by numerous scenes, but in line with the quality threshold around Wootton’s soundsystem pursuits, Dobbelaer brings something worthwhile to the sound with this assured EP.
OW
Molly – Thoughts Of A Day Remixes (RDV Music)
A steady figure in the headsier end of the French house scene, Molly has been building up her RDV label as a vessel for the kind of subtle, elegant tracks which prioritise soul and atmosphere over straight-up functionality. Just look to ‘It Feels Like It Only Goes Backwards’ from her new record, which smoulders in the warm glow of a string-like pad and the fulsome rub of the bassline. It’s the kind of half-hidden jam which can loosen up a stiff crowd without trying too hard, or make a sleep-deprived morning dancefloor start to feel sexy.
Kettenkarussell’s Herr Koreander offers up an ambient inversion of the track which capitalises on those powerful pads and creates swelling drone surges out of them. Meanwhile Fred P steps up on side B to lay down a typically refined reshape of ‘Sweet Afternoon’, letting a nagging bassline lead the way and patiently, spaciously unfurling the rhythmic elements with a poise synonymous with his accomplished catalogue.
That leaves it to Molly to round the record off with ‘Mercure’, a snappier track which nonetheless comes with an explicit intention to take you deeper. That said, watch out for the rasp of the snare hit, which will add a subtle industrial touch to a deeper kind of set (or indeed create a bridge if you want a mellow mood in the midst of some tougher tracks).
OW
This week’s reviewers: Oli Warwick, Jude Iago James, Patrizio Cavaliere.